Outdoor power equipment includes such devices as mowers, trimmers, edgers, chainsaws, blowers and the like. These devices are often used to perform tasks that inherently require the devices to be mobile. Accordingly, these devices are typically made to be relatively robust and capable of handling difficult work in hostile environments, while balancing the requirement for mobility.
Powering such devices could be accomplished in any number of ways. However, for outdoor power equipment that is intended to be mobile, and for which the emissions (i.e., in terms of noise and/or pollutants) generated by the device may also become an important consideration, electric motors are often popular choices to power such devices.
Electric motors may be powered from a battery or corded connection to mains power. In any case, using electric motors to power equipment may provide certain advantages in terms of enabling various electronic control features to be employed, and in terms of having near instantaneous response of such devices when the throttle mechanism is actuated. Given that the response time for such devices can be pretty low, and that the working assemblies of some devices could cause injury if they are not employed with care, it is often desirable to employ safety mechanisms or interlocks to ensure that inadvertent actuation of the working assembly is inhibited. One such common safety mechanism is a throttle lockout mechanism.
The throttle lockout mechanism is often provided on the handle portion of a device and must be pressed or actuated in order to permit the trigger or throttle control mechanism to be actuated. The idea is that if the throttle lockout mechanism is actuated, the operator is exhibiting positive control of the handle, so the trigger can be pressed to engage the working assembly. However, it may be possible for the operator to grasp the handle and in one motion (i.e., the grasping motion) compress both the throttle lockout mechanism and the throttle control mechanism at nearly the same time, thereby inadvertently engaging the working assembly. Thus, it may be desirable to address this issue.